Other sites saw major traffic boosts as well. Visits to transportation pages spiked by 495 percent, and telecoms saw their own traffic climb by 126 percent.

While these numbers are unsurprising on their own, they do show just how important the mobile web has become for finding information about natural disasters both before and as they are happening. The trick, then, is to ensure that people can access that information quickly and easily.

“The ability to access the mobile web becomes even more essential during times of crisis,” Usablenet marketing chief Carin Van Vuuren said via email.